Seven British members of a terrorist cell linked to Al Qaeda were sentenced Friday to as many as 26 years in prison for a plot to attack U.S. financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange, and a number of British targets.
Justice Alexander Butterfield ruled at their trial in April that they were essential players in an extensive plot by Muslim convert Dhiren Barot, who is serving a life sentence in England’s highest security prison and has been described by prosecutors as “a close associate or member of Al Qaeda.”
Butterfield said at Barot’s sentencing in November that the plot was intended to cause “indiscriminate carnage, bloodshed and butchery” across the United States and Britain.
Prosecutors said the sleeper cell worked under the direction of Barot, who spent three years traveling the U.S., Europe and the Middle East collecting intelligence.
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Items compiled from Tribune news services.
